The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1887-12-07
FORBIDDEN HONEY.
DIR. TALNAGE's SUNDAY SERMON.
The Evils That Come to Us Il Scduc-
tive Ways.

To-! must 6ien-I Samuel xiv, 43.
The honey bee is most ingenious architect,
Christopher Wren among insects, geome-
ter drawing hexagons and pentagons, free
booter ro5bing the fields Of pollen and aroma,
awondrouS creature Of Goa, whose biography,
written by Huber and Swamulerdam, is an
enchantment for any lover of nature. Virgil
celebrated the bee in his fable of AriSteus,
and Moses, and Samuel, and David, and Solo
mon, and jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and st.
Jonn used the delicacieS Of bee manufacture
as Bible symbol. \ miracle Of formation IS
the bee: five eyes, two tongues, the outer hav-
ing sheath of protection, hair on ali sides of
its tiny body to brush up the particles of
flowers: its flight so straight that all the world
klowS of the bee line. The honeyconb is q
palace such as no one but God could plan
and the honey bee construct; its cells
sometimes dormitory, sometimes a store
house, ans; sometimes q cemetery. These
winged to:lers first make eight strips of
wax, ana by their antennse, which are to
them hammer and chlSel, and square and
plumb line, fashion them for use. Two
and two, these wo, GerS shape the wall.
If an accident happen they put up but
tresSes Oh extra beams to remedy the dam
age. When about the year 1Is6 an insect.
before unknown, in the night time attacked
the beehiveS all over Europe, and the men
who owned them were in vain trying to plan
something to keep out the invader that was
the terror of the beehiveS Of the continent, it
was found that everywhere the bees had ar
ranged for thair own protection, and built
before their honaycombs an especial wall Of
wax. with portfolios through which the bees
might go to and fro, but not large enough to
admit the winged combatant, called the
Sphinx AtropoS
Do you know that the swarmiug of the bees
is divineiy directed? The mother bee starts
for new home, and because Of this the other
bees of the hive get into an excitement which
raises the heat Of the hive some fo2r degrees,
and they must die unless they leave their
heated apartments. and they follow the
mother bee and alight Oh the branch OF a
tree, and cling to each other and hold on
until committee OF two or three have ex-
plored the region and found the hollow of a
tree or rock not far off from a stream of
water, and they here set up a new colony,
and ply their aromatic industries and give
themselves to the manufacture of the saccha-
rine edible But who can tell the chemistry
Of that mixture of sweetness, part of it the
very life Of the bee and part of it thu life of
the fields.
Plenty of the luscious product was hang
ing in the woods Of Beth-avcn during the
time Of Saul and Jonathan. Their army was
in pursuit of an enemy that by Gods com.
mand must be exterminated. The soldiery
were positively forbidden to stop to eat any
thing until the work Was done. # they diso-
beyed they were accursed. Coming through
the woods they found place where the bees
had been busy, a great honey M2nufactory.
Honey gathered in tho hollow OF the trees
until it had overhowed upon the ground in
great profusion OF sweetness. AL the army
obeved orders AMI touched i not save Joaa-
than, and he not knowing the mi tary order
about abstinence, ,dip1ai III, enl o. 4 stick he
had in his hand into the candle liquid, and
as. yellow and brown and tempting, it glowed
on the end of the stick he put it to his mouth
and ate the honey. Judgment fell upon him,
and but for special intervention he would
have been slain. In my text Jonathan an
nounces his awful mistake: II did but taste
little honey with the end of the roa that was
in my hand, and, 10, must die" Alas, what
multitudeS Of people in all ages have been
damaged by forbidden honey, by which I
mean temptation, delicious and attractive,
but damaging and destructive.
Corrupt literature, fascinating but deathful,
comes in this category. Where one good,
healthful book is read now there are one
hundred made up of rhetorical trash con-
sumed with avidity. When the boy in the
cars GENES Through with q pile Of puhlica-
tions look over the titles and notice that nine
out OF every ten Of the books are depicting
to Chicago or New Or.eaas notice that OBJ
jectionab!e books dominate. Taste for parc
literature is poisoned By this scum of the
publishing houses, Every book in which sin
triumphs over virture, or in which glamor
is thrown over dissipation, or watch leaves
you at its last line w:tL less respect for the
marriage institution and less abhorrence
for the paramouE, is a depression
Of Your own moral character The
book bindery may be attractive and the plot
dramatic and startling, and the style of
writing sweet as the honey that Jonathan
dipped up with his rod, but Your best inter
estS forbid it, Your moral safety forbidS it,
your God for5ids il. and one taste Of it NAV
lead to such bad results that you may have
to say at the close OF the experiment, or ut
the close OF misimproved lifetime: Il did
but taste a little honey with the rod that was
IN my hand, and, 10, must die"
the disruption Of domestic life than any other
cause. Elopements, marital intrigues, sly
correspondence, fictitious names given at
postotice windows, ciandestine meetings in
parks, and at ferry gates, and in hotel par
lors, and conjugal perjuries, are among the
damnable results. When q woman. Young
or old, gets her head thoroughly stuffed
with the modern novel she is in ap-
palling peril But some one will say: The
sons so bswltchingiy untrue, an3 the turn
of the story so exquisite, and all the charac.
ters so enrapturing cannot quit them.
Ny brothor, my sister, yoa can finl styles OF
literature just as charming that VIII elevate
and purify and ennoole, and Christianize
$hile they please. The devil does no. own
all the honey. There is wealth OF good
books coming forth from our publishing
houses that leaves no excuse for the choice of
that which is debauching to body, mind ami
soul. Go TO some intelligent man or woman
and ask for a list of books that will be
strengthening to your mental and moral
condition. Life is so short and your time for
improvement 50 abbreviated that You cam
not afford TO fill up with huskS and clnders
and debris. In the intersticeS Of business
that young man is reading that which will
prepare him to be q merchant prince. and
that young woman is filing her mind with an
intelligence that will vet either make her the
chief attraction of a good mans home or give
her an independence OF character that will
qualify her 70 build her own home and main
tain it in happiness that requires no aug
mentatioa from any Of ourroagher sex. That
young man or young woman can by the right
literary and moral Improvement of the spare
head and shoulders in prosperity and charac
ter and influence above the lounSerS who
read nothing, or read that which bedwarfs.
See all the forests of good American litera-
ture dripping with honey. Why pick up the
honeycombS that have in them the fiery bees
which will sting you with an eternal poison
while you taste it: Cne book may for you or
me decide everything for this world and the
next. It was turning point with me when
in Wynkoop's bookstore, Syracuse. one
day picked up book called "The
Beauties of Ruskinn 1t was only book of
extracts, but it was all pure honey, and
was not satisfied until had purchased all